Iron-air battery startup Ore Energy raises $43 million in Series A funding round

Amsterdam-based Ore Energy has raised $43 million to build what it says will be Europe’s first iron-air battery manufacturing facility, aimed at storing renewable electricity for up to 100 hours.

The Series A round was led by Plural and HV Capital, with participation from Positron Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to more than $61 million, Ore Energy said. Ore Energy’s founders are CEO Aytac Yilmaz, COO Rutil Özdemir and CSO Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia.

Iron-air batteries store electricity by reversing the rusting process: charging converts iron oxide back into metallic iron, while discharging re-oxidizes the iron using oxygen from the air. Ore Energy said its systems use only iron, water and air, avoiding lithium and cobalt, and can be manufactured through a European supply chain. The company said its technology costs roughly a tenth as much per unit of energy capacity as lithium-ion for long-duration applications.

The funding will go toward establishing Ore Energy’s first manufacturing facility, with the company targeting gigawatt-hour-scale production by 2028.

Ore Energy has signed a 1 GWh offtake agreement with Dutch energy supplier Budget Thuis, announced in June, with an initial 400 MWh phase scheduled for delivery in 2028. The company has also run a pilot with French utility EDF at EDF Lab les Renardières in Écuelles, France, under the European Union’s StoRIES program.

Ore Energy said it aims to make iron-air “standard grid infrastructure” for long-duration storage by 2035.